I frequent many Yahoo! groups and bulletin boards frequented by writers and small business owners.  Lately, among the laments about the demise of newspapers and the perils of a shaky economy, I’ve been hearing an interesting war cry:  “Social media is a huge waste of time!!! It will distract you!!! Don’t listen to its siren song…it will destroy your marketing, your career…everything you’ve worked so hard to establish!”

I personally think that you can’t afford not to participate in some form of social media, especially in a world that’s ever more populated by Net-savvy, time-crunched people.  However, it’s a tool like anything else in your marketing arsenal…only worthwhile if you use it wisely.  Here are three ways to know when to rein in your social media use in favor of more traditional marketing means:

You are unable to manage your time.  Some people are able to resist the call of a blinking Tweetdeck and a buzzing iPhone.  Others, sadly, are not.  If you’re unable to manage the amount of time you spend using social media, consider limiting it to a certain amount of time per day (timed, with a timer) and pledging to spend an equal amount of time on the marketing messages you used before you converted to Twitter or Facebook.  Yes, this may involve picking up (gasp!) the phone.

You are undercutting your existing marketing.  If your many profiles are not customized and integrated in with your existing brand, you’re wasting your time.  Sure, you may be able to better interface with long-lost-childhood-friend X, but you’re spinning your wheels in terms of your marketing.  Don’t have time to brand your social media or give thought into how it might integrate with your existing marketing strategy?  Then don’t do it.

You are uninterested or undercommitted to the marketing you did before adopting SM.  Yes, social media is slick, instantaneous, pretty, and even inexpensive.  But if your social media activities have replaced the marketing you did before you logged on, be honest with yourself.  Have they really yielded the return on investment they should?  Have you abandoned sucky marketing in favor of micro-efforts that won’t ever pay off? If the answer is yes, it’s time to reassess.  Social media should be part of a marketing plan…not the entire plan.

Simply put, social media without strategy might just be a waste of time.  Interested in figuring out how to use it to your advantage without losing your mind?  We’re giving a seminar in Denver on April 20 that will help you with jus that.  Click here for more information on Social Media for Mere Mortals.

Photo courtesy of bogenfreund

related posts:

1. Social Media Myths Week – Myth 4: There’s No Time
2. this week in marketing, social media, and brand strategy (week of january 25)
3. Backscratchin’: 10 Ways to Use Social Media to Promote Others

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